4. The emphasis on the forty seconds, which under the conditions of
presentation gains significance;
5. The assurance that the children have been sent to the rear to be
cared for.
CHARACTERIZATION. The individual characters of the main incident are
lost in the group--save for the bright passage about the dead woman
captain. Avenging their dead, righting a wrong, holding sacred a trust,
keeping faith with the Fatherland, dying in performance of duty--of
all these the avenging women were nobly capable. The _struggle_, in
its relation to woman nature, is one of the most psychologically
true found in fiction. It was all over in forty seconds; yet the
so-called instinct of woman--in reality her ability to judge and decide
quickly--terminated the struggle between tenderness and trust, with
ample time left over. Faith would be kept, even at the expense of their
mortal bodies and of their immortal souls.--The characteristic of
the White Battalion is the spirit of protection. The characteristics
of Fouquet and Barres are simplicity, honesty and an almost homely
every-day-heroic quality, all of which work to the conviction of the
reader. Because of the family relations, the fundamental notions of
honor, and elemental ideals exhibited, this story is destined to last.
Founded on bed-rock principles of life itself, it towers into the realm
of spirit.
* * * * *
“The short-story is, of course, the recountal of some struggle or
complication so artistically told as to leave upon the reader one
dominant impression. Perhaps the ‘artistic’ is redundant, for can a
story leave such an impression unless it be artistically told? Even
geniuses must master their vehicle of expression or remain dumb.
To win the sought for reaction to a short-story, painting, play or
oratorio, one learns either in the hard, blind school of ‘rejection
slips’ or by the intelligent method of skilled critic and master, but
learn one must.
“The high water mark in story writing is reached most often for me by
the dramatic story, objectively told. It is the genius who selects just
the right, again the artistic, material which limns the personality of
the character and reveals it to us through that unconscious tell-tale,
the character himself; whose story-people talk in just the tone that
makes even the impossible carry conviction; and who last, or perhaps
first, has a story to tell and an unhackneyed way of telling it.
“Suggestion and restraint in a story appeal to me most strongly.... And
when in ‘the joy of working’ one masters the writer’s art, genius as
well as mere talent, the reaction will come; the audience will laugh or
cry--or both, if the gods are kind.”--_Frances Gilchrist Wood._